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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3519 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 19, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Any recommendations for books about people displaying incredible feats of endurance? I recently listened to David Goggin's Can't Hurt Me, and while I don't think it'll leave a permanent effect on me, listening to him describe running dozens of miles on bloody feet and a body that's barely responding to him at least encouraged me to keep up my cardio job while listening. Preferably a book where a) the people aren't potentially permanently injuring themselves for something minor, like training or a minor training, I have 0 desire to cause permanent damage to myself and hearing people push themselves that hard when there's no real stakes if anything discourages me from pushing myself. And b) the feats of endurance have been confirmed to some degree and aren't just some guy claiming he did impressive stuff.

You might enjoy reading about the Shackleton Expedition to the South Pole. The ship wrecked, and Shackleton managed to somehow bring everyone home by clever use of life boats and navigating. The story is much less grim than other shipwrecks (no drawing straws about who will get shot and eaten), but has lots of endurance-style adversary to overcome.

There's lots of good books to choose from, and I don't have a particular recommendation.

The Worst Journey in the World? It's about Scott's doomed antarctic expedition where the author has a bad time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World

Maybe The Art of Resilience? Or The World's Fittest Book, from the same author?

I started reading the first one before getting bored, but from what I recall it was about him swimming around Great Britain to break some record. Seems to match what you're looking for.

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